Martin C. Carlson, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced that a Wilkes-Barre resident was arrested last week on charges of receiving and possessing child pornography.

Carlson stated that Gregory Fann, age 45, is charged with committing the offenses in May 2008. Fann was arrested by Wilkes-Barre Police and taken into custody by FBI agents. He was arraigned on March 12, 2009, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Malachy E. Mannion in Wilkes-Barre.

Fann was indicted by a federal grand jury on February 3, 2009, as a result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Wilkes-Barre Police, and the Pennsylvania State Police.

Carlson stated that Fann faces a mandatory minimum five-year prison sentence and a possible maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if he is convicted of receiving child pornography, and a potential maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if he is convicted of possessing child pornography.

Carlson noted that this case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006, by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Carlson noted that Assistant United States Attorney Francis P. Sempa is prosecuting the case.

An Indictment or Information is not evidence of guilt but simply a description of the charge made by the Grand Jury and/or United States Attorney against a defendant. A charged Defendant is presumed innocent until a jury returns a unanimous finding that the United States has proven the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt or until the defendant has pled guilty to the charges.